It would seem that controlling things using gestures is fast becoming the new thing to do. Microsoft have enjoyed great success with their Kinect motion detecting hardware that allows users to use their bodies as the controller for certain games as well as navigating through menus with gestures. An increasing number of iOS apps are starting to include gesture-based user interfaces that allow users to navigate through the various app screens using a number of different gestures including flicks and swipes.
The guys over at Bot Square Inc. have recognized the popularity of controlling things with the flick of the hand or finger, which has led them to create their Flutter app, available as an alpha download from their website for Mac OS X users. Flutter exists purely to allow a Mac user to be able to play and pause their music libraries either on iTunes or Spotify, depends on whichever you’re using.
At first glance, nothing appears to be out of the ordinary with that, after all, Mac users can already pause their tunes through the app’s buttons or by using the built-in hot keys on the keyboard.
Flutter works by taking things one step further and using the Mac’s built-in iSight camera, it allows users to play or pause music using a simple waving hand gesture. When the Flutter app is invoked, the camera springs into life and instead of displaying your rather confused face on the screen, it waits patiently in the background looking out for recognizable gestures which tells it to play or stop the music. The gesture is extremely simple and means that the user simply needs to hold his/her hand up to the camera with their palm facing forward to kick Flutter into action.
The app is extremely simple, but also rather powerful at the same time. By opting for a gesture-based control rather than a physical button press or a mouse click, a user can start or stop music or even movies up to six feet away from their Mac, ideal for those extremely lazy movies buffs amongst us.
You kind of get the feeling that apps such as Flutter are going to be the stepping stone to software that is a lot more functional, bringing a larger array of more complicated gestures that allow almost total control over our technology lives. Bringing the same style of application to my iPad would also make me extremely excited.
Flutter is available free of charge from the official website and can be downloaded now [Direct Link].
Thanks Caleb for the hat tip!
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